TEHRAN – Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has said that Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will hold a new round of talks in Tehran on Thursday to devise a new modality for cooperation.

In an interview with the Persian service of the Fars News Agency on Tuesday, Araqchi said that Iran and the IAEA will hold technical talks “to determine a framework and modality for cooperation.”

“We have already said that the framework of cooperation should be determined, and the inspections and cooperation that go beyond our commitments to the agency should be clearly specified,” he said.

He also said, “We have offered concrete proposals to the 5+1 group (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany) and they should respond to them. If they want to act in good faith, the path is open for negotiations.”

On November 9, the IAEA said that it hoped the talks in Tehran would produce an agreement that would allow it to resume an investigation into Iran’s nuclear activities.

The IAEA’s talks with Iran are separate from Tehran’s nuclear discussions with the six major powers.

The last meeting between Iran and the IAEA took place in August but failed to make progress.

The IAEA has called on Iran to sign and implement a structured approach document to resolve the outstanding issues and has stated that gaining access to the Parchin military site, which is located southeast of Tehran, is a priority for the UN nuclear watchdog.

The IAEA has claimed that Iran might have been trying to sanitize the Parchin site of any incriminating evidence of explosive tests that would indicate efforts to design nuclear weapons. However, Iran has dismissed the claim, calling it “baseless”.

Tehran rejected requests by IAEA delegations to inspect the Parchin site during their visits to Iran from January 29 to 31 and February 21 to 22 and has made it clear that access to the site would not be possible before an agreement is reached on the structured approach document.

AM/PA

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